"If your mind is clouded, a bit of entertainment may help clear it. It would also give you an opportunity to win my sandals, should you wish to wager," she suggested with a chuckle. "I will not press the issue if you would rather not at this time though."

"What exactly is there to 'deal with'?" Kagayaki asked as she walked over to Anissa's side. "The motive is quite clear, is it not? If you wish to survive, you have only two options: confess all of your 'crimes' to the world, or commit murder. ...I have already made my decision."

She smiled. "There are still hours until the deadline. Until then, I wish to enjoy myself as best I can."

"What exactly is there to 'deal with'?" Kagayaki asked as she walked over to Anissa's side. "The motive is quite clear, is it not? If you wish to survive, you have only two options: confess all of your 'crimes' to the world, or commit murder. ...I have already made my decision."

She smiled. "There are still hours until the deadline. Until then, I wish to enjoy myself as best I can."

"..."

Akio threw his hands in the air with frustration, storming off angrily.

A small memorial service had been set up. Well-detailed drawings of everybody they’ve lost were arranged side by side, illuminated by candlelight.

“Today is the one year anniversary of Lord Haizaki’s death.” Kagayaki closed her eyes sadly, performing her usual rite. “I asked Lord Belrose to prepare the pictures.”

“Wow, these are really well-done…” Lyla looked at them.

“H-Heh…” Silas blushed. “It was nothing.”

“Hmph.” Akio crossed his arms. “Didn’t even ask me to do the candles.”

“I think it would be nice to say a few words about each of them.” Shirly suggested. “It’s...it’s been a while.”

Kagayaki nodded. “I agree. Who shall start?”

“I-I will.” Lyla volunteered. “D-Dallas...what happened to him was unfair. He was forced into a no-win situation, and he still didn’t break. He kept fighting for her...and he might’ve been looking out for himself foremost, but he was trying to save us from the mastermind. We should recognize that.”

“I-I’ll talk about Terrence.” Akio sniffed. “H-He was a funny guy. I really liked the nickname he had for me...a-and things haven’t been the same since he’s been gone. He was great for lifting our spirits and...I don’t care who he really was. He was always Terrence to me.”

“Penelope…” Silas sighed. “At the very least, she tried to do the right thing. In her own, crazy, messed-up way…”

“She had some strange kinks too.” Shirly added.

“We could say the same about John…” Molly began. “Err...about the ‘right thing’ that is…”

“We should not talk about John.” Lyla shivered.

“I don’t know.” Molly frowned. “There’s something to be said about him. He was a really bad guy, and I hate him for everything he’s done to us but...he’s so broken. He was convinced he was right above all else, and nobody could convince him otherwise. And he died thinking that way. He never would’ve grown up normal, or had a normal life. That’s...so sad.”

Some people winced, but some eyes showed flickers of agreement.

“C-Claudius…” Anissa twirled a rubber band around her wrist. “H-He had his problems, but he did his best for all of us. And he went down fighting...he never gave up until the end. I know he carried a lot of pain with him, but he was strong for all of us.”

“Momo was strong too.” Shirly nodded. “He took off his mask. He showed us who he really was. He...he wasn’t afraid of what the world would think of him.” Shirly looked towards the camera room. “He would’ve done the right thing when it came to this crappy motive.”

“Lord Valler...I fear we’ll never truly understand the extent of the pressure he felt.” She sighed deeply. “He was always reliable for us. He wanted to protect us, and only had our best intentions in mind. This game is what twisted him, but I hope he’s found some peace with himself now.”

“S-Sachiko…” Akio clenched his fists and fought back tears. “I-I would do anything in the world to just...talk to her one more time. The way she always smiled when she saw me--there really was nobody else like her. She made me feel really special.”

“Lady Windsor.” Kagayaki clutched her gohei tightly. “I don’t think I’ll ever find a friend like her again either. She refused to let us die for her sake, and she trusted that we’d find a way to escape. We mustn’t let her down.”

“Let’s not forget about S.” Silas reminded. “He...she...whatever. They were our friend too, Casey or not. They deserve our tears.”

There was a long moment of silence for the group. Memories, feelings of longingness… everything rushed through them.

“If the alternative is doing what that bear wants, then yes. I’d even wager that a confession from each of us is the outcome he desires, so I’m not going to give it to him. If I die, it’ll be with my head help up high.”

Nobody offered up disagreement, it was clear she had already decided.

Slowly, the class returned to their rooms. Each had a thought running in their head, that the target could be them...

Spoiler: Camera Room

[3:45 PM]“So...someone has to be in there, right?” He asked.

Shirly looked at him, uncertain of the answer. The other four people stood still in apprehension. She just shakily grabbed the doorknob and opened it.

“C-Crap…” Anissa seemed to realize the situation. Her face strained like she didn’t know what to do, but instead she began focusing on the words she wanted to say. “I-I had fun here overall. Y-You guys...y-you guys made my life worth living…”

She didn’t say another word. Kagayaki tried to help her, but it was clear quickly that nothing could be done.

“Actually, now that Monokuma doesn’t want us to listen, I’m curious...” said Kagayaki.

“No no no!” shouted Monokuma, who was, oddly enough, beginning to sweat somehow. “You don’t need to hear any of that metal flat-head’s thing. It’s time for you to figure out whodunit. If you fail to correctly identify who the bl…”

“ARE YOU DENYING THE STUDENTS THE CHOICE TO VOTE?” asked the roomba, somehow ominously.

“I… I guess not…” said Monokuma, grumbling. “Man… this never happened to me before…”

Monokuma started drawing various ways that he could destroy the roomba.

“Aaaaaaaaanywho…” said Akio, addressing the target of Monokuma’s ire. “You were saying?”

“THE TRIAL DOESN’T NEED TO CONTINUE. IF YOU VOTE TO END IT NOW, THE BLACKENED WILL GRADUATE. THERE WILL BE NO RANDOM EXECUTION. OR ANY EXECUTION AT ALL. THE BLACKENED WILL GET TO LEAVE, THE REST OF YOU WILL CONTINUE YOUR KILLING SEMESTER.”

Kagayaki thought deeply. “And if we vote to continue the trial?

“IT CONTINUES NORMALLY. HOWEVER, THE RANDOM EXECUTION RULE WILL GO INTO EFFECT. SUCCESS OR FAILURE, THE REMAINING GROUP WILL CONTINUE THE KILLING SEMESTER.”

“So this is a choice...to kill the blackened?” Akio clarified. “Or at least get the chance to?”

“THERE’S A BIT MORE: SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO END THE TRIAL RIGHT NOW, ALL OF YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MEMORIES OF THE BLACKENED. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MEMORIES OF ANISSA. YOU WILL NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HER.”

“God…” Molly bites her lip. “So we’re supposed to place our trust into this game? If we want to find out who killed her?”

“YES. YOU ARE ALL FREE TO DISCUSS HOW YOU WILL VOTE. I WILL AGAIN REPEAT THAT YOU CANNOT DISCUSS YOUR ALIBIS OR INVESTIGATIONS UNTIL VOTING HAS CONCLUDED. HOWEVER, YOUR VOTE MUST BE SUBMITTED PRIVATELY AT THE END, EVEN IF IT'S THE SAME AS YOUR 'PUBLIC' DECISION.”

The class looked at each other. Then their eyes fell on Anissa’s portrait, now at its own podium across from Dallas’.

[Feel free to post. Nobody is getting their alibi until the vote is finished]

"Anissa..." Kagayaki choked back a sob. "Last year... she was willing to sacrifice herself for the rest of our sakes. She cared that much about us... To think one of us here could murder a person like that, our dear friend we've lived with all this time..."

She raised her head, a mix of sorrow and anger in her eyes. "I cannot give up my memories of her, nor can I forgive her killer, no matter what their reasons may be. I wish to continue the trial."

"Anissa and I weren't very close, but..." Molly hugs herself tight. "Y-You're both right, she deserves some kind of closure. That someone could just go and kill a girl who's been doing her best to help us all this time.." She trails off, her gaze falling to the floor.

Akio tilted his head. "T-Though...I don't think I know much. I just made some burgers for lunch...Kagayaki tried some of my famous Charcoal veggie burgers, and I think she liked it! Anyways, lunch was ruined anyways...someone took the damn ketchup!"

"The investigation...I checked the garden with Silas, and...noticed some of Sachiko's plants. I remember they were like, some sort of sleeping meds."

After the memorial I was walking back to my room and Anissa tagged along. She mentioned there being no shortage of people who wanted her dead. She also said she didn't want to kill herself again, so..." She sighs.

"Next up, at around 2 PM I was in the animatronics room with Molly. She mentioned how the animatronics have guns with blanks and prop knives. I got bored and headed to the meat locker. Surprise surprise, a butcher's knife is missing. And until the investigations I just kept myself busy, I guess. Molly and I investigated the camera room. Nothing was too off about it... Except that some blood looked unnatural. Like, weird colour, or maybe it was chunkier than usual, I don't know. But that's about it."

Kagayaki closed her eyes for a minute to listen to the testimonies and collect her thoughts. The corner of her mouth twitched involuntary when Akio mentioned the burgers.

"...I can confirm what Akio had mentioned regarding lunch. I entered the kitchen and found him there around noon. After that, my day was fairly uneventful until around 3:30, when... we realized we had not seen Anissa for some time and decided to search for her..."

She covered her mouth with her fist and politely cleared her throat. "Shirly and I investigated the animatronics room. The only discovery we made there was one of the bear's knives seemed to be missing.

"...Anissa was... still alive when we found her," she continued quietly. "She seemed confused as to what had happened to her when she awoke. I believe it is safe to assume she was drugged before being stabbed, most likely by the plants Akio and Silas discovered. That may account for the abnormality in the blood."

"I was with Lyla in the animatronics room and again when we investigated the camera room, everything she said checks out. Prop knives, guns filled with blanks, not much else. S-Sorry I don't have much to say..."

Shirly and I played pool for a while. About an hour or so, I'd say. Felt bad for turning Kagayaki down but I couldn't find her anywhere. Before our game ended we broke off to search for Anissa, since neither of us have seen her around. Then.. well.. yeah. We found her."

"Akio and I didn't really find anything in the garden. I asked him about the plants though. Which he mentioned, are sleep medication."

"That is unfortunately another good question for which I do not have a confident answer... However, since there was a knife missing from the meat locker, and ketchup missing from the kitchen, perhaps Anissa was attacked in that general area?"

"...Anissa... While the voting is over, I have also opted to catch the killer. I do not want to see another death, but I care about Anissa too much to lose memories of her, I'm sorry."

Shirly takes a deep breath.

"After I confessed, I played pool with Silas. After a while, he asked me if I had seen Anissa, which I had not, so we went to look and... As for investigations, Kagayaki said it all. We noticed a knife missing from the animatronics room, that is all."

"Well, you couldn't really tell the prop knives were fake unless you got a good look at them up close," Molly insists. "Maybe they could be used to threaten or trick someone who didn't know better, but... yeah, they wouldn't be good for anything practical."

"The knife found in... Anissa. That was the butcher knife, ya? So why the prop knife? A knife from the kitchen would be more effective any day. Unless Anissa struggled with her killer and took the closest knife to her, I do not know how it would be used... and she was most likely drugged, why even struggle?"

"There has to be some other use for it. If not for murder or some sort of struggle, then what could it be for?" Silas puts a hand to his chin in thought. "It wouldn't be missing for some unrelated reason, right?"

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